Process of producing gas.



3.3. dal. C. NIX. PROCESS 0E' FRODUGING GAS. APLIOATIGN FILED sEPT.25.1912.

Y the lower part of the chamber 3 in starting the producer in operation.

The secondary combustion and fixing chamber 5 is extended above the level of the preliminary combustion chambers 4, forming a superheating chamber or space 83 at the upper portion of the chamber 3, surrounding the central chamber 5. Auxiliary air supply means are preferably provided for this chamber 5, the casing 1 being prov vided with a vertical passage 34 extending upwardly from the' central chamber 5 and .communicating at its upper endthrough perforations in a plate 36, with a pipe,

37 provided With a steam jet blower 38.

At' its lovverA end, the chamber 5 is contracted, forming a throat 40 communicating with'theupper end` of thesupplen'ientary vfixing chamber 6 which extends or flares.

downwardly from said throat and is again contracted at itslower portion as shown at. 42. Arches 43 may be provided in chamber *6 toaid in the final xing' operation, hereinafter set orth.- From the bottom of chamber 6 a discharge passage 44 extends obliqu ely down through casing l to an outlet tube 45 lined with firebrick, as indicated at 45 and communicatingjvithan ejector 'casing 46 'which extends downwardly into a box 47. A steam pipe 48 projecting down wardly intocasi-ng 46' in line with the out.- let portion 46 thereo produces an ejccting v act-ion on the gas in 'the easing and tends to draw the gas ,from the chamber 6 and -to maintain a condition vot suction in said chamber. Box 47 may be immersed in water and be open atthe bottom and is provided with outlet' 'Olleadingl to the service pipe or to any means for conducting away, storing, or using the ga's.-

The process constituting our invention consistsV in atomizing liquid hydrocarbon, impingingjon the atomized liquid, streams `of air and Steamv at'sutlicient Velocity to break up the air andl steam intoa state of ine-subdivisiom'that is, toatoinizey the air and steam,y causing said atomized air and steam to burn a portion .of the liquid hydrocarbon under a. 'condition of pressure, then admitting a secondary supply of air and stean'.- tf produce a further partial combustion at lhi'he'r temperature and under a conditibnlo pressure then-'allowing the producedv gas to expand to a condition of partial vacuum and While iii'suoh expanded condition, causing the portions of such gas to be intermixed, to tix the gas.

mary combustion chambers 4.

` A further feature of the process is the aecuniulation of solid carbon filoni the partial combustion at times of excess of fuel supply over air supply and utilization of the resulting body of solid carbon in furnishing heat and carbon to the gas at timos of deficient fuel supply.

Another feature of the process is the conversion of any free carbon in the produced gas into combustible gas by admitting steam to the gas while the gas is at a temperature suiiiciently high to enable the free carbon therein to dissociate the steam.

A further object oi the invention in this connection is to utilize the same steam for formation of Water gas in this manner and for ejection ofthe produced gas.

The process is'carried-out in the above described apparatus as follows: Oil and steam are supplied to the burner or atomizer 'l0 through pipes 1l and '12, so as to cause a jet of atomized oil to issue from the nozzle pipe 14 in to the generators or pri- [itemized air is also forced into said chambers by the steam blower 20 through perforaiions 1G',

said air being divided by said perorations into a large number of tine streams which enter at the circumferential portion of chamber 4 and converge so as to iii-:piaga on the jet of :itemized oil at high velocity causing intimate and thorough mixture o the steam, air and oil, the mixture of air and oil being ignited and burned within the primary'combustion chamber. The combustion being concentrated by 'impinging the air on the oil in this manner, this high emperature is maintained at the point of`partial combustion, so that the primary combustion is substantially completed before the gaseous parts leave the primarycombustion chamber and enter the chamber chamber S serves as an e ualizing chamber, both mechanically and chemically, Athe products from the Several burners entering this common chamber, so that the pressure thereof is equalized and the chemical constituents of the gas is maintained constantlyY by the action of the carbon deposited in tie lowerportion of this chamber. At. times when the fuel supply runs in excess of the air sup 7, so that an excessive amount of free car n is produced, the major portion of such earvbon will settle into the lower` portion of this chamber which is made of relatively large area so as to produce a'substantially dead space in which the-solid matter may settle by gravity. On the other hand, at times when the fuel supply is deficient so that free oxygen is present in the produced gas in chamber 3, said gas -will be at sufficiently high temperature to enable this free oxy ,en to take up carbon from the body of roe carbon in the bottom of chamber 3. By

Thel

providing this reserve supply of carbon, we- 130 are enabled to push the carbon content oft n the gas to a maximum, While reducing the-,

amount of free carbon in the gas to a minimum. lfn .this connection it will be understood that 'the retention of this body ofh carbon at high temperature in.' contact with the gas, serres to increase the capacity of the gas for taking up carbon in the combined conditions The gas passes from the chamber 3 through the apertures 22 in the wall 23, to the seo ondary combustion, and fixing chamber wherein it encounters a blast of auxiliary air andl steam passing into said chamber from the steam blower 38, this auxiliary air being supcrheated by contact with the walls-of the chamber 5 which are maintained at high tem peinture by conduction through said wall of the heat of the gases in the upper part of the .chamber 3. The air and gas being at high temperature cause a second combustion resulting in a still higher temperature, the eicet ot which is to break up any tarry matter present in the gas and tend to the forniation of carbon monoxid by reaction of any tree carbon present withany carbon dioxid present inthe gas.l 'The combustions heretofore described in the primary and secondary combustion chambers take place under a condition of pressure maintained by the steam blowers 20 and 36, this pressure "being, for example, about one, ounce more or less to the square inch., On reaching the bottom of the chamber 5, the gas issues through the contracted outlet or throatl 4Q into the supplementary liXing chamber 6, the gas expanding in this operation' to a condition of partiall vacuum", say one-tenth ounce to the souare inch, more or' less, and this expansion tend-ing to set free a portion of the carbon, and the resulting free carbon being then mixed with the hot gases in the chamber 6 so as to combine with any free oxygen present, or reaction of any `carbon dioxidy present to c1 term carbon monoxid. The chamber 6 is preferably ot large caiplacity soas to retain the gases therein a su cient time at a high. tea'nperature to produce the mixing requiredl for fixing the gas. In general, tlierewill be some free carbon remaining in the gas after passing through the mixing chamber 6, and the gas is drawn through the outlet 45 by the ejector a8, the steam supplied at such ejector reacts with such free carbon in the to form water gas. VVhlle the process if properly carried out with suitable fuels, rcsults inthe production of gas which is subH stantially clear ot free carbon, it will be understood that under certain conditions, for in using unusually heavy fuels, are or less free carbon will pass the ejector the washboxa being provided to collect and :remove from the gas suc-h free carbon.

,in important feature of the present inven- Iii tion is that the vacuum in the supplementary.

fixing; chamber is drawn from the condition of pressure in the chamber 5 so that the combustion takes place under pressure and is fol lowed by expansion to a condition of partialv vacuum. This is in` distinction lto those processes wherein combustionI takes place in a partial vacuum resulting from suction on a combustion chamber which draws .directly from the atmosphere.

lin case heavy. fuels are used, containing higher percentage ot carbon, the use of thc steam blower 2O is of advantage in that it supplies steam along with the incoming air,

and in this connection We prefer-.to provide suliicient steam to saturate the air, this steam being operative chemically well as mechan-ically;J its chemical eflect being to react with: the carbon to form combustible gas. In lcase a'hydrocarbon with relatively low' percentage of carbon is used, any means such as an ordinary air blower may be used for supplying the air, but it is desirable, in any case, to `furnish steam to the air.

' Vilhile' the air pressure in the primary combustion chamber is small, the pressure of the air from the steam blower or positive blower before it passes through perforations 16 is much higher, say e1 ght pounds more or' less, ier square inch, so that the stream of air is forced through said perforations at Vhigh velocity, providing jets of great mixing power. This provides for a compound 0r double atomization, the .first atomization being effected by the steam coming in with the oil, and the second atomization being effected by the jets of air saturated with steam.

W Nhat we claim is:

1. The process of producing gas, which. /onsists in 4producing a jet of atomized liquid hydrocarbon by'fn'ieans of steam, directing jets ot air under pressure and steam, at high velocity, at an acute angle'into said jet-olf atomized liquid hydrocarbon, so as to cau e the atomized jets of air and steam to forcib y impinge on the jet of atomized hydrocarbon and produce a further atomization and mixture of the hydrocarbon, air and steam, cans'- ing the resulting mixture ot air, steam and` hydrocarbon to burn under a condition of pressure above atmospheric pressure and withdrawing the resulting gases lfrom the 4place of combustion..

2. The process of producing gas, which consists in producing' a jet of atomized liquid hydrocarbon by means of steam, directing jets of air under pressure and steam at high velocity at an acuteangle into said jet of atomized liquid: hydrocarbon, soas 'to cause the atomized jets of aii' and steam to forcibly impinge on the jet of atomized hydrocarbon and produce further atomization and mixture of the hydrocarbon, air and steam, causingthe resulting mixture of air, steam and hydrocarbon toaburnv under a condition of pressure above atmospheric pressure, and

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withdrawing, the resulting gases from ,the set ourhands at Los Angeles, California, piace of combustion, directing into the rethis 20th' day of September, 1912.

sluiting gases jets olstealn 'and air at high JOSHUA J NIX. velocity to produce a, further combustion and FRANK C. NIX. 8 withdrawing gases resulting from said fur- In vpresence of- 4 ".4

ther combustion. ARTHUR' P. Ifruorrr?A In testimony whereof, We have hereunto MARTHA M.LANGF. 

